Site Help / FAQ

Welcome to the Bricklin International Owners Club website! We appreciate you
stopping by and are sorry you are having difficulties with our site. We make an
effort to accommodate as many platform / browser combinations as possible but
understand our visitors may occasionally have some difficulty with this site. The following information was put together to assist you in
resolving the most common issues our visitors experience. If there is anything you feel that should be
included here, please feel free to
contact us!

The website, Forum and other resources made available here are provided by
the Members of the Bricklin International Owners Club. The site is professionally hosted and
paid for from Club proceeds. You should never see popup advertisements when
visiting here! If you are getting popup advertisements, you should have your
system inspected for adware or spyware infestation.

We do, however, use popup windows extensively on the site. If you are running
popup suppression software, you need to allow popups from this site. Check your
documentation - you should be able to configure the system to allow Bricklin.org
to open new windows. For example, you will find many thumbnail pictures on the
pages of this site -
clicking on them should open a separate window with a larger version of the
photo. Clicking anywhere in the popup window should close it again and reveal
the page you were originally on. If this is not working, check to see if your
popup software is preventing the window from opening.

We also use JavaScript extensively on the site (and for the Forum). See Menu Problems to get it enabled.

Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in joining
the Bricklin International Owners Club and / or supporting our efforts here!

When you move your cursor over the items on the menu, you should receive a 'drop down' menu with additional choices. If you are not getting the 'drop down' menus, chances are you do not have 'JavaScript' enabled on your system.
Look for your Platform and Browser combination in the list below to verify
JavaScript has been enabled on your system.

Platform

Browser

How To Turn On JavaScript

Windows

Internet Explorer 5, 5.5, and 6

Select "Tools" from the menu bar and click on "Internet
Options...".

Click the "Security" tab and then click the "Custom Level..."
button.

Scroll down to the Scripting category and select the "Enable"
radio button for "Active Scripting".

Click the Yes button in the "Are you sure..." window.

Click the OK button.

Close this window and Click the Refresh button in the browser's
row of icons.

Windows

Netscape Navigator 6+

Select "Edit" from the menu bar and click on "Preferences".

Select the "Advanced" option.

Click on checkbox next to "Enable JavaScript for Navigator"

Click the "OK" button.

Close this window and Click the Reload button in the browser's
row of icons.

Windows

Mozilla

Select "Edit" from the menu bar and click on "Preferences".

Click on plus sign next to "Advanced" to show Advanced options.

Click on "Scripts & Plugins".

Click on the checkbox next to "Navigator" under "Enable
JavaScript for".

Click the "OK" button.

Close this window and Click the Reload button in the browser's
row of icons.

Windows

Opera

Select "File" from the menu bar and click on "Quick
preferences".

Click on the checkbox next to "Enable JavaScript".

Close this window and Click the Reload button in the browser's
row of icons.

Windows

America Online (AOL)

Select "Settings".

Select "Preferences".

Select "Internet Properties".

Select "Custom Level".

Scroll down the Custom Level screen to "Scripting".

Enable "Active Scripting".

Select "Okay".

Select "Yes" that you want to change the security settings.

Select "Okay".

Close the Preference window.

Close this window and Click the Reload button in the browser's
row of icons.

Macintosh

Internet Explorer 5.x

Select "Explorer" under OS X or "Edit" under earlier OSs from
the menu bar and click on "Preferences...".

Click on triangle next to "Web Browser" to open sub-menu if
needed.

Under "Active Content", click on checkbox next to "Enable
Scripting"

Click the "OK" button.

Close this window and Click the Refresh button in the browser's
row of icons.

Macintosh

Netscape 7.x

Select "Netscape" under OS X or "Edit" under earlier OSs from
the menu bar and click on "Preferences...".

Click on triangle next to "Advanced" to open sub-menu if needed.

Click on "Scripts & Plugins".

Click on checkbox next to "Navigator" under "Enable JavaScript
for".

Click the "OK" button.

Close this window and Click the Reload button in the browser's
row of icons.

Macintosh

Safari

Select "Safari" from the menu bar and click on "Preferences...".

Click on the "Security" icon.

Click on checkbox next to "Enable JavaScript".

Close that window.

Close this window and Click the Reload button in the browser's
row of icons.

Macintosh

Mozilla

Select "Mozilla" under OS X or "Edit" under earlier OSs from the
menu bar and click on "Preferences...".

Click on triangle next to "Advanced" to open sub-menu if needed.

Click on "Scripts & Plugins".

Click on checkbox next to "Navigator" under "Enable JavaScript
for".

Click the "OK" button.

Close this window and Click the Reload button in the browser's
row of icons.

Macintosh

AOL for Mac OS X

Select "AOL" from the menu bar and click on "Preferences...".

Click on the www icon in the scrolling list on the left side.

Click on the "Content" tab.

Click on checkbox next to "Enable Javascript".

Click the "OK" button.

Close this window and Click the Reload button in the browser's
row of icons.

The Bricklin International Owners Club provides a message board that may be accessed by the general public. Some areas are available to the non-registered user, but in order to gain access to all areas or create messages (post) on the Forum, a valid account is required.

In order to register for an account on the Forum, a valid, working e-mail address is REQUIRED. The registration request will then be reviewed by our Forum Administrator and must be approved for activation. This is to prevent automated 'spam' bots from gaining access to the Forum. After our Forum Administrator reviews and approves your registration request, the system will send you an account activation e-mail that confirms the e-mail address you provided. Please be patient - you will usually get the activation e-mail within 24 hours. If that e-mail address is not valid or cannot get through to you, you won't be able to activate the account! Be sure to set your spam filters to allow mail from Bricklin.org.

Members of the Bricklin International Owners Club will have access to additional areas of the Forum, the ability to create Classified ads and access to the Parts Database. In order for the Forum to recognize you as a Member of BI (and grant access to the additional areas & functions), you MUST use the same e-mail address BI has listed for you. If you do not show up as a BI Member on the Forum but should, please have our Membership Director update the information we have for you! Please see our Contacts Page. (Hint: If you need to change your e-mail address and are showing up as a BI Member on the Forum, have our Membership Director change your address and then WAIT for your status to change BEFORE changing the e-mail on the Forum so you don't lose access to the special areas while the update is being made.)

When signing up on the Forum, please use a name without spaces or special characters. Access to the Parts Database may be affected if spaces or unusual characters are being used.

You signed up for the Forum but:

Didn't receive the activation e-mail

Be patient. Wait and check your e-mail after some delay. Due to automated spam attacks we are inspecting each registration request and deleting those that are obviously 'bots'.
Unfortunately, that means a bit of a delay before you get your activation e-mail as our VOLUNTEERS work, sleep and otherwise have lives, too.

Once your registration has been approved the Forum software does create the e-mail
immediately and it should get to you quickly. However, I have seen some pretty
slow mail systems, so don't be surprised if it doesn't show up immediately.
Give it at least a few hours before you decide it's not going to work. Drop
the Forum administrator a note and he will delete your attempt so you can
try again. See the next item before you try again, however.

If you
waited a while and still didn't receive the activation e-mail, chances are your spam system (or that of your ISP if they provide the
service to you) is blocking the verification e-mail our system sends to you.
If your particular system moves spam e-mails to a folder other than your
inbox, check there first. (Many commercial programs and others like
hotmail do this - giving you an opportunity to recover 'false positives'
and 'whitelist' the address for future use.)
Check your spam system documentation (or help system with your ISP). You
need to allow mail from the Bricklin.org domain to get through. The Forum
uses the address Forum AT Bricklin.org to send messages, so 'whitelisting'
that address is a must!

If all else fails, please feel free to contact our
for additional assistance. Be sure to specify how far into the process you got and any error messages you encountered. Make SURE you have 'whitelisted' the Bricklin.org domain in your spam system so replies can get to you. Our
can delete your registration attempt and allow you to retry it.

The link doesn't work

Many mail readers have a problem with long links. The link that is sent
to you contains a pointer to the Forum site and activation page along with a
unique code to identify the account you are attempting to create. Some e-mail reader will 'wrap' the link and it
'breaks'. If you click on the link and it doesn't work,
compare what got transferred to the address bar of your browser with the
address that was included in the e-mail. Chances are the whole link didn't get transferred. In this case,
simply copy the missing portion of the link to the address bar and try
again.

The BI Members that respond to your queries are all volunteers and serve
the Club in their spare time. Most of us try to respond to your requests -
if only to tell you that we received your message and will follow-up with
you later - within a day or two. We all have families, jobs, work to do
on our cars and even go on vacation far away from our computers from time to
time - and it may take a bit of time to get back to you. We
may also be researching the answer or forwarding your message to another
Member better equipped to answer the query. Please be patient and give the
Member a chance to respond before trying alternate addresses.

If you haven't heard back from our staff in a reasonable amount of time
it may be we've tried but cannot get our message through to you. In the
majority of the
cases we've had so far, this is due to the spam prevention system you or your ISP is using
(AOL is notorious for this!). Some explanation of our e-mail system is in
order and may help to explain why you haven't received a response from us.

When you send a message to an address in the Bricklin.org domain, you
are sending to an address that forwards your message to the personal e-mail
address of staff member currently holding that position in the BI
organization. In most cases, the Bricklin.org address you are sending your
message to is not a real address and cannot be used to respond to you - it's
just a forwarding mechanism. We have this setup so we can change the
forwarding address per job function in one place - the e-mail system - as
opposed to finding and changing an individual's address on the many website pages where that
address may ultimately appear. We are a volunteer organization after all and
staffing does change from time to time! The problem for you is that you
cannot possibly know where the response may come from - except that it CAN
come from an address in the Bricklin.org domain. Each staff member does have
a real mailbox - which is not necessarily the same one you sent your message
to - in the Bricklin.org domain they can use to send messages, so
your best option is to 'whitelist' (configure your mail filters to allow)
messages from any address in the Bricklin.org domain. Our staff knows that
they can use the mailbox assigned to them to contact you as a last resort as
long as you do this.

As an example, you send a message to Webmaster AT
Bricklin.org asking for help. That particular address is a forwarding
mechanism that routes your message to the personal address of the staff
member that is performing the Webmaster duties. Whitelisting that address
will do no good, as you will never receive a message from that address - it
is a receive and forward address only. The response will come from the
Webmaster's personal account or the Bricklin.org account assigned to
him/her. Whitelisting all addresses in the Bricklin.org domain will insure
we have SOME method of responding to you. (I cannot tell you the amount of
time I've personally wasted trying to contact AOL users with various address
I personally have because of this
situation. It is extremely frustrating!!)

Your message may not have been received. Many of us use spam systems, too - and it may have been stopped for some reason. Try again with a simple text message (if you are using fancy signatures, links, etc.) to get through the spam system or use a different address to send to (as Webmaster, I am always happy to redirect messages to the 'right' Member - please feel free to contact me). The Directors of the club are typically in constant e-mail contact with one another and will do the same.

Join the BI Forum and post your query there. The Directors frequently visit the Forum and can probably answer your questions without having to deal with e-mail system issues. We've also got many BI Members and non-members that are willing to assist with just about any problem or question. Be sure to read the Forum Activation Problems section first, though.

You are welcome to include your address and phone number as alternate ways to contact you but please understand that our VOLUNTEER staff is located in various locations around the country and responding to you in like manner may be an unfair burden on them - as long-distance calls or stamps come out of someone's pocket. If we have someone in the area capable of dealing with your situation and cannot contact you by any other means we will attempt to do so though - promise!